Literally

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11: 28-30

This Scripture has come back to me today.  The Word made flesh in Our Lord Jesus the Christ tells us this...why do I still feel burdened and weary?

Sigh...

I read a few passages in my morning devotionals that helped me to begin to sort out my issue.  However, the Holy Spirit moved my eyes back to the Words of Jesus as if telling me, the answer is in Him...look no further...

So I read Matthew 11: 28-30 again and saw a line, a few verses above, that said that this truth has been hidden from the wise and learned, and revealed to little children (Matthew 11: 25).  

Hmmm...

Isn't that how it always seems to work out with Our Great God?  He chooses the lowly, the simple, the plain, the insignifiant, the least of these, those who are like children, to do His work on this earth...to further His plan.  

What are children like?  A pain, a headache, the source of most of our worry... I mean... God's gifts... but really, when it comes to understanding, I believe Jesus is telling us that for us to truly get what He is saying, sometimes we need to be more like children.  For instance, Dylan, our 12-year-old is just now getting the concept of sarcasm.  Children typically do not have the capacity to understand when someone is not meaning what they say.  They are very "literal."  They take it all exactly as it is said, because they don't know there is any other way to understand things.  They don't know that sometimes people say things that they don't mean...or that there is hidden meaning between lines.

I believe that's exactly what Jesus is telling us here:  I mean this LITERALLY!!!!

Although He is using the metaphor of the "yoke" here, He means it.  He knows we do walk with a yoke around our shoulders.  He knows we carry heavy burdens and that we are just plain tired.  He knows what it is to have a human body.  He knows what it is to be poor.  He knows how much our sins weight because He carried them all on the Cross.

Yes, we are called to mature, and move up from the milk to the solid food of discernment (Hebrews 5: 13-14), but in our maturity and as we grow in our sensibility to distinguish good from evil, Jesus repeatedly calls us to come to Him as little children:  

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  Matthew 9: 14

We are not supposed to lose that child-like ability to see things for what they are, exactly...literally.  Therefore, if He says, "come to me and I will give you rest because my yoke is not like the yoke of this world.  My yoke is light, and as you take it upon yourself as I do, in humility and gentleness, you will see that you will find rest for your soul," He means it!  And He wants us to get it, because He is not double talking or being sarcastic.  He is The Truth! So, trust! 

Some say that American's second language is sarcasm.  Well, that is hindering us from discerning what Jesus is trying to say to us.  We don't need to sort through and read between the lines with Jesus.  He is clear.  We just have to trust that there is such a person whom we can totally trust and take at His word...like we did before we became jaded by the world.

Holy Spirit, allow us to overcome our unbelief and trust the One Who is The Way, The Truth and The Life!